MADRID – A fifth-grade student here has organized an effort with his classmates to collect nearly 1,000 books for a local assemblywoman’s holiday book drive.

Brody Baldwin, 10, a fifth grader in Timothy Dashnaw’s class and son of son of Chris and Kelly Baldwin is collecting the books for Assemblywoman Addie A.E. Jenne’s Books for Children drive to earn his Recycling Badge. Baldwin is a member of Cub Scout Pack 38 in Waddington.

Jenne, D-Theresa, says early indications are this year's book drive could set a new record.

Books for Children has collected over 20,000 books since 2009.

She said she was stunned to learn of the efforts of Baldwin and his classmates who have joined together to collect close to 1,000 books.

"I'm incredibly grateful to Brody Baldwin, his family, Cub Scout Pack 38 and the students and staff at Madrid-Waddington for their hard work and support of this year's holiday book drive. Their effort will benefit hundreds of North Country kids that will enjoy the gift of reading this holiday season," Assemblywoman Jenne said, noting that books were one of her favorite Christmas presents when she was a child.

"We got a flyer announcing the book drive in the mail, and my mom said it would be good for one of my badges so we started collecting books," Brody recalled.

His effort has benefitted from strong support from Pack 38, his fellow students in Mr. Dashnaw's class and Madrid-Waddington Elementary School Principal Matt Daley.

Brody was able to promote the book drive on the school's Live from the Hive morning announcements, and the results have been phenomenal.

"I thought we probably wouldn't get that many, but I was hoping for maybe 500. We already have over 900 books in over 21 boxes," he said.

His mom, Chris, said she has been very impressed by the support for the book drive effort at the school.

"The kids in Mr. Dashnaw's class are being allowed to go to other classrooms to pick up books that are being donated. We had one member of Pack 38 that went to a holiday show and bought a package of books he brought to Brody as a donation for the book drive," she said.

Brody, a member of the Waddington Hepburn Library's Battle of the Books team, says he loves to read and is excited that children in need will be getting books this Christmas season.

"I know there are some families that might not be able to afford to buy books for their children so I think it is real good local kids in need will get a chance to read these books," he said.

Brody and his mom said they have been checking out the titles as they have been boxing up the books and storing them at his grandmother's house.

"We saw a lot of good books, all kinds of books for all ages," his mom said. "There are a lot of Harry Potter books, and we have had some donations of the Dear America book series."

Brody also received a donation of several bookmarks from the Waddington Hepburn Library librarian that will be included with the books being donated to the book drive.

Mr. Dashnaw said students and staff alike have donated books to the drive. He said Brody and his mom made flyers and passed them out at the school to promote the drive. He added Brody and another scout, Connon LaForce, set up collection boxes at central locations at the school and also collected books from different classrooms.

The fifth-grade teacher said the book drive will benefit children in need in the region and has also been beneficial for the school as well.

"There are plenty of families who can't afford things like this, and we are also in the age of electronics. We know when books are on hand kids are more apt to read rather than just grab an electronic device," he said.

Mr. Dashnaw also said the book drive has been good for school pride.

"We're a small school district with roots in farming. A project like this makes pride in both of our communities come alive as people get behind it," he said.

The books will be distributed by the St. Lawrence County Community Development Program and the Community Action Planning Council in Watertown.

New and gently used books will be collected until Dec. 15 at Kinney Drugs locations in St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties and will be redistributed to local families. The focus is on books for children up to 12 years of age.

Books can also be dropped off at the Canton Free Library as well as at Assemblywoman Jenne's office in Watertown at Dulles State Office Building, Suite 210, 317 Washington St.